The present disclosure generally relates to thermoplastic compositions containing biobased materials, and more particularly, to thermoplastic compositions including one or more thermoplastic resins and dried distillers solubles to form a melt processed, injection molded, or extruded article and processes of manufacture.
Thermoplastics are polymers that become liquid when heated and return to the solid state when cooled. This cycle of melting and freezing can be repeated, so that the plastic can be reshaped by heating it. There are many types of thermoplastics, some of which are presented below. They are useful for a variety of applications, including consumer goods, machine parts, medical equipment and packaging and storage materials. Biobased materials are seen as a potentially greener alternative to petroleum based plastics that are generally non-biodegradable, have devastating effects on animal and ocean life, and for the most part have an inherently toxic life cycle from production system through disposal. A tremendous amount of research is ongoing to substitute at least a portion of the thermoplastic with a biobased material.
Compounding is a process that melts one or more polymers with additives such as fillers, reinforcing materials, extenders and the like to give plastic compounds or composites with desired properties such as stiffness, flexural modulus, high deflection temperature, and the like. The feeds may be pellets, powder and/or liquids, but the plastic product is usually in pellet form, to be used in other plastic-forming processes such as extrusion and injection molding Machine size varies from tiny lab machines to relatively large extruders in the industry, running as much as 20 tons per hour, as used by various chemical companies that make the base resins.
Usually twin-screw extruders are preferred because these machines are generally known to provide better mixing at lower melt temperatures.
One of the problems with incorporating additives in a thermoplastic resin is agglomeration. The additives, if in particle form, can agglomerate due to Van Der Waal forces, for example, and in order to have a homogenous mixture, it is important to break up these agglomerates. This requires energy and is additional to the energy required for melt formation and mixing.
It would be desirable to provide processes and thermoplastic compositions including a biobased material that can be uniformly blended to form an article.